There Is
by VinylDestiel
Summary: High School AU. Set in Britain. Dean Winchester is the new kid and quickly catches the attention of a small group of friends, especially Castiel Novak, an intelligent boy with no time for cocky, over confident boys like Dean. Dean and Castiel go through the struggle of finding their sexuality and the other problems of teen life. Basically fluff and angst and stuff.
1. Chapter 1

**So, since I don't know much about the American school system, this story is going to be set in England, you are free to imagine everyone with British accents but also you can just imagine they talk like they normally do. If I have to mention a place, I'll probably use one in England, and they'll be doing GCSE's and all that jazz, I apologise if this puts you off. Enjoy!**

Chapter 1

Castiel reopened his science paper for the third time that minute, trying to avoid the glare of Miss Humphrey, her eyes pushing him to check over his answers again, as if he'd changed his mind since 20 seconds ago. He flicked his eyes up, just long enough the catch the timer at the front of the hall, 20 minutes left. Castiel knew he was intelligent, but he was stuck in the vicious cycle of trying not to look bored, as to not seem boastful in an _'I finished my test ages ago'_ kind of way, and attempting not to stab himself in the head with his pen, out of sheer boredom.

This was the last mock exam before the real ones, which were only 4 months away, and Castiel had no real concerns about them. He knew his grades wouldn't affect his future, he would inevitably pass, but he wanted the best, for reputation sake. He wanted the pride of opening that envelope on results day, to find not a single B. He wanted to see his dad smile wider than all the other dads, to place a hand on his shoulder and mutter "You did well son". He wanted his mother to gossip to all of her friends about her son, who got all A's.

Risking another look past Miss Humphrey, Castiel was pleasantly surprised. He had managed to think himself through 17 minutes and was now watching the clock countdown from 2:46. He scanned his eyes around the room and was greeted with the sight of almost every other teenager in the room leaning back in their seats, arms folded and eyes locked on the timer. Deciding it was safe, he also assumed their position, eyes hooded and staring at nothing in particular.

As the timer reached zero, he chanced a look sideways at Jo, who was seated 2 desks to his right. She glanced his way and made a gagging noise, tilting her head to her left, gesturing to the boy sat in between the two friends, It was a boy with straight but messy black hair, his face spattered with more freckles than Castiel had ever seen on a person. Castiel had seen Josh around school and knew of his reputation. Josh was the school dickhead, and that was the nicest way he could put it. He had never outright bullied anyone, just made sly remarks and asked inappropriate questions, making everyone feel uncomfortable. Castiels group of friends had a special vendetta against Josh, as only a few months ago he had touched Jo's thigh during a lesson. She'd let it slide that time, but 10 minutes later when he groped her boob, he earned a slap from the headstrong blonde, to which he replied with varying degrees of phallic language.

After Castiels row was dismissed, he made his way to the classroom he sat in for lunch. His friends all decided that sitting in the classroom of their favourite teacher would be a much better way to spend their breaks than in a rowdy cafeteria filled with shouting teenagers and distressed lunch ladies. Mr Prest was never around at lunch, and the door was broken and didn't lock, so he allowed the group to stay there, under the condition that they looked after it, and didn't let any 'delinquents' in.

Castiel caught a flash of red through the small window of the door as he ambled down the corridor, recognising that Charlie was already in the room. He pushed the door open and held his hand in the air, waiting for Charlie to meet it with hers. Her face dropped and she edged toward Castiel, sadness in her eyes. His hand dropped slowly to his side as he waited for the bad news. He had been tutoring Charlie in Biology, and he had been sure she would ace this exam. Suddenly her face brightened and she held up her hand again, a large smile plastered on her face.

"Just joking Cas, I totally aced that!" She giggled. Cas let relief flood over his face, bringing his hand up again to high five her.

"You should be an actor." He retorted, a smirk playing on his lips. Before Charlie could reply, Chuck and Adam burst through the door, out of breath and both leaning against the wall for stability.

"What the hell, guys?' Charlie half jogged up to them, placing a hand on Adam's shoulder, straightening him up.

"Some new kid, some totally badass new kid. He just punched Josh Ramshaw, right in the nose." Chuck breathed, moving himself to sit atop a table.

"When Jo comes back from buying her lunch… She'll kiss the kid!" Castiel laughed.

"Why did you guys run up here so fast anyway?" Charlie asked, heading to her usual seat, on the left side of the middle table.

"Well, we wanted to tell you guys what had happened straight away,' Replied Adam, moving himself to his usual seat, next to Charlie, 'And the teachers were taking in everyone who saw anything, so me and Chuck bolted." He took a swig from his bottle of water, breathing heavily.

Cas sat down on the table in front of the window and pulled out his phone to text Jo.

 _You're in for a treat when you get to the room_

He knew that Jo was in line for her lunch and it would be 10 minutes before she arrived in the room, so he expected a reply before she got back, but replaced his phone anyway, deciding that it was as much information a he was willing to disclose.

"Who is this new kid anyway? I haven't heard anything about a new kid." Charlie asked, raising an eyebrow as she pulled out her sandwiches, tucking a strand of red hair behind her ear.

"He seemed shit scary, I wont even lie. We turned up just as he hit Josh, and then Mr Prest pulled the kid away and told him he'd only been enrolled 10 minutes and was already starting trouble." Chuck explained, opening his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by the door being kicked open.

Surprisingly, it was Jo stood at the door, sandwich in one hand, bag in the other, throwing it into the corner as she spoke. "Guys. The cafeteria has exploded. Some guy's down there shouting at Josh Ramshaw and Mr Prest is dragging him away." She took an overly aggressive bite of her sandwich and sat down next to Castiel. "So Cas, what was that text about?" A small drop of condiment dropped onto Jo, she laughed and wiped it off of her shirt, sucking it off of her finger with a pop.

"Oh yeah, that kid that was shouting at Josh, Adam and Chuck saw him punch him." Castiel replied smugly, happy to be the bearer of good news.

"Thank god, that bastard-" She was cut off by Mr Prest entering the room, followed by someone who Cas could only assume was the new boy who had punched Josh. The whole room was silent, all eyes on him. He was well built, with firm muscles filling his white school shirt. He had dirty blonde hair that stuck out and all angles, while some strands were stuck to his face with sweat. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, but not neatly like Castiels, they were messy, as if he'd gotten dressed in a rush. He had his shirt untucked, which was against school rules but somehow Castiel didn't think that the boy, nor the school really cared at this precise moment. He had a very sculpted face, with stubble covering his jaw, which wasn't abnormal for a sixteen year old, but made him look even more rugged and not to be messed with. He pulled a chair out from under the table near a door and practically shoved himself into it, his eyes always fixed at the floor.

"Sorry guys, I gotta leave this one here. I'll be back in a few minutes" Mr Prest informed them, closing the door behind him. He had spoken so fast that Castiel had to take a moment to decipher what he had said. The whole group shared equally confused and worried looks between each other and the boy, who now had his arms folded and his feet on the table. His black boots were scuffed and made him look even more intimidating.

Breaking the silence, Adam chimed in breathlessly, his voice filled with admiration, "Dude-". Castiel assumed that Adam was going to go on to praise the boy for his good deed, but he was quickly cut off as he pulled out a pair of white earphones from inside his shirt and pushed them into his ears, turning his head away from the group, looking up at the ceiling with his lips pursed. A steady beat of drums, along with what was obviously an electric guitar riff, played loudly into the room despite the fact that it was being played through earphones, clearly indicating that the boy could not hear whatever the group would say.

"Rude." Charlie commented, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"I don't know, I wouldn't want to be bombarded with questions if I was him." Castiel cast his eyes over the boy one more time. He looked as if he was trying to burn a hole in the table with his eyes, they were unblinking and his full lips were pressed into a hard line. Cas could have sworn he saw him nod his head to the beat of his music for a second, but quickly dismissed it as Charlie stood up. She half stormed over to the boy, stopping just in front of the table he was sitting at, hands on her hips.

"Hey." She greeted him pointedly, but he did little more than flick his eyes up at her before removing his phone from his pocket and changing the song coming through his earphones. This time Charlie opted for a more up front approach, reaching forward to pull the earphones out of his ears. As her fingertips neared his ear, the boy whipped his head toward her, swiftly wrapping his fingers around her wrist and removing his earphones with his other hand, a half sided smirk now replaced his frown. Charlie let out a small gasp.

"Hey yourself Darling, what do you think you're doing?' His voice was smooth and deep and reeked of cockiness. But with Charlie being just as fired up, she ripped her hand out of his grasp, taking a few step back for comfort.

"Darling! Who do you think you are?" She all but spat.

"Dean Winchester, and you?" He shot her a wink, this caused a stifled laugh from Adam.

"A lesbian, but thank you." Charlie returned his wink and mirrored his smirk, but Deans smirk never faltered. He replaced his earphones and was now openly nodding his head to the beat, his smirk still not completely gone.

Behind Dean, the door was pushed open gingerly by a boy that couldn't be more that 12. He had long brown hair that swept over his forehead, ending just before it reached his brown eyes. He looked frightened for a moment at the sight of the 5 teenagers, but then his eyes landed on Dean and he visibly relaxed and made his way toward him. Dean removed his earphones for a second time and quickly stood up, ushering the smaller boy to the side of the room. They talked in hushed tones, so Castiel couldn't make out what they were saying, but by the look on Deans face, he was angry about something. Just as Cas was about to say something, Mr Prest appeared.

"Sorry guys," He addressed the group, "But I've got to leave Dean here for lunch this week, due to his behaviour. You're welcome to stay here as I doubt he'll be very sociable." Cas looked over to Dean, expecting some sort of reaction to this statement, but he seemed too engrossed in his conversation to even notice that the teacher had entered the room. Charlie made a noise of disgust, but everyone else seemed impartial. He didn't bother them until they bothered him after all. Mr Prest gave an apologetic smile and backed out of the room.

Adam and Chuck were whispering to each other excitedly when the smaller boy eventually left the room and Dean went back to sitting at the table, listening to his music.

* * *

Castiel always enjoyed PE, not because he was good at sports, but because no one took it seriously, so when he made his way to their last lesson of they day, he was ready for an hour of messing around.

Cas strolled into the changing rooms, but stopped abruptly as he caught sight of his two friends, in a seemingly hilarious conversation with one Dean Winchester. Normally, Castiel would have no problem with someone joining him and his friends for a lesson, but he had taken a dislike to Dean since their one meeting at lunch. He seemed too cocky and disrespectful for Cas' liking.

"Hey Cas!" Chuck called, motioning for Castiel to join them. He wandered towards them, eyes roaming over Dean, taking note of his over confident stance and the way his fists were half clenched, as they had been last time Cas had seen him, as if he was ready to jump to his own defence at a moments notice. "We hung out with Dean last lesson, we decided we may as well get to know each other if he'll be sitting with us all week." Chuck continued, nodding his head at Dean.

Dean cast a dismissive glance of Cas and muttered a small "Hey" and turning his back and grabbing a t-shirt from his bag. Adam raised his eyebrows toward Cas, but all he could do was shrug his shoulders and retrieve his own clothes.

The boys entered the sports hall just in time to hear their PE teacher shout "Get in teams of five and set up your own games!" He pulled a bag of different coloured bibs out of the equipment cupboard and dropped them on the floor, practically jogging out of the room.

Various groups of boys were splitting off into fives, and Cas, Adam, Chuck headed towards another group of boys, Dean in tow. The majority of the boys in the class were friends, so picking teams wasn't hard. A boy named Ash joined Cas' team and they started up the game, which wasn't serious, but had a small hint of competitiveness.

With no referee, they decided that the other team would start with the ball. This decision made now difference however, as before the team could make their first pass, Dean was there and had intercepted the ball, earning a loud whoop from Adam. Before Cas could even comprehend what had happened Dean had dribbled past the rest of their players and scored a basket. Chuck ran up to Dean and patted him on the back, firing various compliments him.

The game continued in this fashion, with a few baskets scored by some other boys and once again Dean was in the perfect position to earn one more baskets and widen the gap in the points. Castiel stood close to the basket, watching on, ready to grab the opportunity of a rebound if Dean missed, which he wouldn't. Deans eyes broke focus on the basket and flicked towards Cas, a small smile graced his lips and his hands moved from the shooting position, passing the ball to Cas. Willing himself not to fumble the ball, Cas caught it with two hands before bouncing it once, moving forward and pushing it towards the basket. A smile adorned his face as the ball slipped through the net and he felt a firm hand on his shoulder. Turning his head, Cas was greeted with a smiling Dean, who patted his shoulder, giving it a small squeeze.

* * *

Castiel let out a loud laugh when Dean picked up Chuck, and raised him above his head, earning some turned heads and funny looks, but he didn't mind. Dean feigned dropping Chuck and he held his hands out to shield his face from the floor, letting out a small scream. Laughter sounded even louder from the rest of the boys before they were ushered out of the changing room by the teacher.

Cas said bye to Adam, Chuck and Dean and grabbed his jacket from his bag. He zipped it up, shielding himself from the cold air before exiting the building. His eyes skimmed over the car parks before landing on his mums car. He squeezed through a group of girls who were chatting and muttered some apologies before pulling open the door and climbing in. He smiled at his mum and opened his mouth to speak when he felt the vibration of his phone in his pocket. Castiel manoeuvred himself around in the car so that he was in a position where he could take his phone out of his pocket. As his fingers wrapped around it, it buzzed again. The texts were from a number that Cas didn't recognise, but the nature of the texts quickly revealed who they were from.

The first one read:

 _Nice shot today._

Followed by:

 _This is Dean, by the way._

Castiel was at a loss for ideas on how Dean had gotten his number, but didn't ponder too long. he must have been showing his emotions on his face because his mum peered over his shoulder, obviously attempting to look at his phone. He quickly pocketed it and decided he wouldn't reply. He wasn't completely comfortable with the new boy, anyway.

 **This isn't edited so there are probably so many mistakes but eh. Hope you enjoyed it. Please review because who doesn't love reviews.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Castiel lay completely still, eyes practically clenched shut but mind still racing. Only an hour ago had he decided to put away his text books and attempt to sleep, but he had to be up for school in 45 minutes and he knew he would be having a bad day. After 10 minutes of contemplating, Castiel decided to just get up and face the day with not a single minute of sleep, and made his way to the shower.

Rubbing the excess water from his hair with a towel, Cas decided to venture downstairs, half dressed with his school shirt unbuttoned. With his physical wellbeing in mind, he grabbed two slices of bread and dropped them in the toaster, planning to add butter to them, but when they eventually popped up, he didn't have the energy to waste on buttering them and instead chewed slowly on the dry toast.

Cas didn't see any of his family that morning, which was fortunate because they would have noticed his lack of sleep and either scolded him, or kept him off school, which wasn't something that he could afford at this late stage in the year. Castiel made his way into the building just as his first lesson was about to start. He had missed the bus due to his inability to focus on the bus times, or even what time it was and how long he had been waiting for.

He showed up to English only a few minutes late and took his seat. It took him a long while before he looked up and his eyes locked on the boy sitting directly opposite him, scribbling down some essay that Cas hadn't listened to the instructions for. His usual table consisted of himself, Jo, Adam, and a spare seat, making Cas feel particularly unlucky that this was the only spare seat in the class. He felt his heart beat just a little fast in his chest when he remembered the text in his phone that still remained without a reply. He didn't want to seem disrespectful, but he just had no interest in talking to Dean, let alone texting him in his spare time.

"Cas… Are you okay?" Jo was waving her hand in front of his face, indicating that he had been spaced out.

"Yeah, just, uh, tired" He replied, blinking his eyes back into focus and grabbing his pen before asking Jo what he should actually be writing.

Cas spent the rest of the lesson in the background, listening to Jo and Adam converse about things that didn't really matter to him. When Dean finished his work, he sat with his earphones in pretending to be writing, but Castiel could tell that he was just tracing over the words he had already written .

By lunch, Castiel felt too ill to eat, and even though he knew he wouldn't be able to supply energy to his muscles to keep him upright and awake if he didn't, he couldn't stomach anything. He noticed Dean had brightened up, smiling and joking, even ruffling Charlie's hair at one point. This earned him a glare that he quickly brushed off, making a joke out of it by pretending to hide behind Jo for protection. Cas said a few words, mainly for the purpose of convincing the group that he wasn't about to pass out from 29 consecutive hours awake. He knew this didn't completely douse their concerns, but did enough to get him to his next lessons undetected.

As he leaned against the wall outside of his Chemistry classroom, partially due to his reluctance to enter the room, but mainly to keep himself upright, he noticed Dean was there again. Castiel cursed his luck, trying to decide which god he had been unkind to, and why they were punishing him so severely.

Eventually, he realised he would have to move from his all too comfy spot on the wall and actually learn, but pushing off the wall seemed too much of a difficult task, and instead he slumped to the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut and braced for the impact of the ground, but fell unconscious before he could feel it.

He awoke to the sight of green eyes filled with panic and the feeling of a calloused hand around his wrist. Cas willed someone else to take over, uncomfortable and slightly frightened at any contact between himself and Dean, but when he heard only silence and Deans rugged, panicked breaths, that idea was washed away. Now all he wanted was for Dean to take him to the Nurse's office and then leave him there.

Cas never got to find out how he got to the nurses office, whether it was in the arms of Dean, if others had helped support him or if he was dragged along the floor, he would never know, all he knew was that at that moment he was laying down on a small bed, in the nurses office that he'd never actually been in before, that there was an ice pack resting underneath his head where the should have been a pillow, and that Dean Winchester was there, arms folded and eyes staring at the floor, planting a tinge of annoyance is Cas' head.

Cas closed his eyes as quickly as he had opened then, apologising furiously in his head to the god he must have upset, hoping maybe he would be kind to him and Dean wouldn't notice he was awake. But as always, luck was not on his side, and he let out a long sigh, disguising it as a yawn and stretching his arms, pretending to have just woken up as Dean gently nudged his shoulder.

"Cas?" He almost whispered. His hair was tousled and sticking out at all angles as if he had run his hands through it too many times. Cas sat up on his elbows and looked towards Dean, he tried to speak, but couldn't think of anything to say and instead resorted to a confused look, pulling his eyebrows together.

"Look I'm sorry. I tried to get Jo or someone you liked better but the nurse said I couldn't and that I had to stay with you, something about not disturbing other classes. I know you didn't want to wake up to the sight of me but someone had to stay with you and I couldn't just leave you there on the floor and I don't know dude I'm sorry for-'

"Dean" Cas interrupted him. Suddenly, he felt a wave of guilt wash over him, realising that Dean was only trying to help and he wasn't some cocky badass who only cared for himself. A more intense guilty feeling overcame him now as he took in what Dean had said and mulled over the fact that Dean knew he was uncomfortable with him, and Cas had no reason as to why he felt like this.

Words were tumbling out of Castiel's mouth before he could even think them up in an effort to try and dull the twisting in his stomach and rid himself of all his guilty thoughts. "I don't hate you. You're just new and I guess I'm not too good with new people."

"I like to think I'm not _that_ intimidating." Dean said, speaking louder than he had been, his smirk that seemed to be forever glued to his face returned and he leant back in his seat, looking a lot more relaxed than before.

"The first time I ever heard of you was because you punched someone and the first thing I ever saw you do was grab Charlie's wrist and wink at her." Cas said pointedly, only half joking. Dean chuckled and stood up. At first Cas thought he was going to leave, startling himself at the fact that he felt a pang of disappointment, not wanting to be left alone for the remainder of the day, but Dean only went as far as the desk to the other side of the room, retrieving a dark blue stress ball and squeezing it in his fist.

"That, my friend, was just a matter of asserting myself, becoming the alpha male and that shit." He tossed the ball up in the air, catching it casually with one hand.

"Thats a very… Neanderthal personality, don't you think?" This time, it was Castiel who smirked, an unfamiliar feeling rising in his throat, confidence.

"And I think you have a very rude personality, what with ignoring my texts." Cas couldn't find a reply to this, he couldn't pretend that he hadn't gotten them, it had been a whole day since he received them. Dean must have recognised Cas' discomfort because he spoke up again, "Dude its okay, it was invasive of me anyway." His confidence returned with this.

"That's some pretty advanced language for a neanderthal." He suppressed the urge to let out a small giggle and crumble his confident, charismatic persona.

"If you keep this up I will just leave you here to fend for yourself"

"Oh no," Cas whined sarcastically, "whatever will I do without you here to toss a ball in the air while I lay on my deathbed." The ball came flying at Cas' head and he was forced to duck out the way, making him nauseous and leaving him with a god awful headache. He pressed his fingers to his temple and groaned.

"Take it easy dude, you need to rest. What's up with you anyway?" Dean moved over to his chair and sat back down, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knee's.

"I'm okay," Cas replied, but the wince he gave at the vibrations of his voice box told another story, "I didn't get much sleep last night." Dean gave a huff, sounding half amused and half disbelieving.

"You don't pass out for _not getting much sleep_." He emphasised the last words and made air quotes with his fingers.

"Okay fine. I was awake for 29 straight hours." He admitted.

"Why?" Dean asked, leaning further forward, obviously intrigued in Cas' sleeping habits.

"Why not?" Cas replied teasingly. He was enjoying this new found confidence and wanted to use it as much as possible before it inevitably fell apart.

"Oh I don't know, physical and mental health?" Dean retorted quickly, obviously more used to this kind of quick witted conversation than Cas was.

Castiel was saved from struggling to think of any reply as Charlie stormed in.

"What the hell did you do to him?" She screeched at Dean, her own face only centimetres from his as she breathed heavily, waiting for a reply.

"Me? I saved his life and brought him here!" Dean's tone was defensive, and Cas had a small hunch that Dean might be beginning to become afraid of Charlie, and he didn't blame him, she could skin them all alive with her teeth if she wanted. She looked at Cas for confirmation, but he could only muster a nod, scared she would rip his head off for siding with Dean.

Charlie gave a huff and perched herself on the end of Cas' temporary bed. Dean moved his head to look at the floor, trying to hide the small smile that was concealing his laugh.

"Are you even allowed to be here Charlie? I thought everyone had to stay in their lessons?" Cas moved his feet so they were resting on her lap, glad for the movement as he was beginning to cramp up.

"No actually, I'm not, but when word got around that you had passed out and Dean carried you away, I was slightly worried."

"Who do you think I am?" Dean sounded offended, but Castiel couldn't tell if it was mock offence or not.

"An arrogant bastard." Charlie blew him a kiss, before quickly informing them of something about getting back to a lesson, standing up and leaving the room.

* * *

Cas and Dean spent the next half hour conversing about anything and everything that came to mind, from sports, to school, to family. When cas had informed Dean that his mum wouldn't be picking him up today, Dean insisted that he give him a lift home, under the impression that Castiel was in a state where he was completely incapable of making his own way home. For a good 10 minutes Cas had refused, promising that he was fine and could get the bus home, not wanting to bother Deans family. But Dean wouldn't take no for an answer, and that's how Cas ended up sitting in the back of a Chevy Impala, making small talk with a boy he met yesterday, his little brother, and his mother.

"So Castiel," Mary started, "What are your plans for after school?"

"Uh, I'm thinking about going into something medical, a doctor, maybe." Small talk was not Castiel forte and he was sure he was going to say something wrong and make himself seem like an idiot.

"How about you rub some of that ambition off on Dean, he would do well in an academic job, you don't have to be a mechanic like your father you know, Dean."

"Shut up." Was all that Dean said. He seemed mildly embarrassed and pulled his phone out.

Castiels phone buzzed in his pocket. He picked it from his pocket and realised that Dean had texted him from a meter away.

 _She's so embarrassing, i apologise._

For the first time, Castiel replied.

 _She's your mother, stop being so mean._

Dean smiled at this, pocketing his phone and Cas did the same. It was only a short drive to Cas' home, but in that time they had already discussed his grades his hobbies and his family. Mary had thrown around some ideas of him tutoring Sam, and even Dean, but nothing had been confirmed, which Cas had been extremely glad about, he was far too busy with his own studies to help anyone else with theirs.

"Thank you Mrs Winchester," Cas waved as he got out of the car, "Goodbye. Bye Sam, Dean." He nodded towards Dean and gave Sam a soft smile. He had realised as soon as he saw him that Sam was the boy that had took Dean aside yesterday. It was obvious to Cas that the boys had a very strong relationship, and that Dean was an overprotective type of brother.

"See you tomorrow." Dean nodded back at him. Castiel hadn't comprehended what he had said until they were already half way down the street.

 **Bit of a shorter chapter but its like 1 in the morning and I'm tired, I just wanted to update quick. Again, I hope you enjoyed it and please review.**


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